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Hailed as ‘The quintessential expression of Bipolar Disorder in print’, Alistair McHarg’s compelling memoir sheds vital light on one of the world’s most bizarre and misunderstood illnesses. Taking readers on a first-person account of a manic episode and depicting the perilous road to recovery, ‘Invisible Driving’ is resonating with an eclectic global readership.

For Immediate Release

While 1.2% (statistic: National Institute of Mental Health) of the American population suffer from Manic Depression, commonly referred to as Bipolar Disorder, it remains one of the most stigmatized and misunderstood illnesses among society. However, a gripping and emotive new memoir by Alistair McHarg is making waves across the nation as it slowly but steadily chips away at this stigma and presents the raw realities of life with the illness.

‘Invisible Driving’ illustrates the harsh reality that 2.3 million U.S. adults deal with every day.

Synopsis:

Invisible Driving is a memoir of Manic Depression that takes readers inside the terrors, thrills, and triumphs of coming to terms with this debilitating and misunderstood mental illness. The manic narrator’s voice vividly recreates the feelings and sensations of mania, offering an unprecedented look at this fascinating and bizarre state of being. While behavior and thought illuminate the condition of mania, it is the protagonist’s language itself that most viscerally conveys what it feels like to be trapped inside a manic ‘high.’

The voice of the recovered narrator provides context, reliability, and credibility. Where the manic narrator is relentlessly entertaining and delusional, the recovered narrator is tough minded, concise, and determined to reveal the truth, no matter how painful. With a cold eye he examines the forces that shaped him in order to shed light on the psychological architecture driving the episode.

The interplay between these two perspectives underscores the bipolar nature of Manic Depression; the greatest personal challenge is reconciling them. Ultimately, the narrator must confront his own worst nightmare and in doing so gain character, insight, and acceptance.

As the author explains, he hopes that offering an intimate account of his own struggle with Manic Depression will help change the public’s perceptions about the illness, as well as those forced to live with it.

“I’ve struggled with Manic Depression for thirty-nine years. With one in five of us completing suicide, it’s time the world wakes up to just how cruel this illness is to us. My aim for the book was to offer an unprecedented ‘insider perspective’, to make the illness and its experiences understandable to a general audience, as well as illuminating the difficult road to recovery,” says McHarg, who travels the country speaking about his experiences with Manic Depression.

Continuing, “I am determined to change how the public view the illness and its victims. My journey so far has taken me to prestigious platforms including the Thomas Jefferson Medical College and WBZ Boston’s Jordan Rich Show. There’s a lot more ground to cover but I’m already seeing shifts in perception as a result of openly discussing my life and work.”

Since its release, the book has garnered a consistent string of rave reviews.

“One of the best books of its kind, written by a man who has been there,” says leading Bipolar authority Dr. E. Fuller Torrey.

F. Burnside was equally as impressed, adding, “McHarg has achieved the nearly impossible task of describing mental illness with mere words – but what words! He takes you into the eye of the manic hurricane and gives you the lightning, thunder and the sunshine all at once with extended stream of conscious word play that somehow makes sense.”

Writer and performer Alistair McHarg grew up in Philadelphia, attended Germantown Friends School, graduated from Haverford College with honors, and earned an M.A. in creative writing from the University of Louisville. He has been a promotional copywriter for 30 years, but creative writing has always been his passion. He has published two satiric novels, Moonlit Tours and Washed Up, and has been publishing poetry for decades. “Miscellaneous” employment includes fighting forest fires in Alaska, working as a deckhand on a Norwegian freighter touring South America, and driving a cab in Philadelphia.